Here’s A New Healthy Reason To Stock Up On Walnuts ASAP

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Most of us already know that walnuts are good for us, but a new study from the California Walnut Commission and the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center suggests that these babies could also be a powerful weight loss tool.

The researchers selected nine hospitalized obese patients to participate in the small study. They had some of them drink a smoothie containing 48 grams of walnuts (approximately 14 walnut halves) five days in a row while the others drank a placebo smoothie with the same flavor and calorie content. Then, after a month of the participants consuming their regular diet, they had them repeat the smoothie experiment once more, but the walnut group and placebo group switched places.

Five days later, all of the participants had MRI scans while looking at pictures of high-fat foods, low-fat foods and neutral non-food images. The researchers observed that the part of the brain responsible for regulating appetite and impulse control (called the insula) was activated when participants who had the walnut smoothies looked at the high-fat food pictures. In layman’s terms, this means the diet including walnuts could have helped the participants avoid unhealthy food cravings, which could aid substantially in weight loss efforts.

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Now, there are clear limitations to this study. First, there were only nine participants, and such a small sample size makes it difficult to reflect the findings to the general population. We also don’t know why they were hospitalized to begin with, so their previous ailments could have impacted the study results in some way. And finally, this study is revealing the impact a diet including walnuts has on obese people specifically. More research is necessary to see how it would impact people of different weights, fitness levels, metabolic rates, dietary restrictions and the like.

Either way, there’s no denying that walnuts are a superfood that should be included in everyone’s diet (unless you’re allergic). They are considered by some to be the healthiest nuts out there, and they’re the only nuts that contain omega-3 fatty acids.  They help the body fight off inflammation in major ways and can improve your risk factors for heart disease.

So if you aren’t convinced to eat them to stave off junk food cravings, do it for the laundry list of other benefits already confirmed for this awesome tree nut.